Pay for Gemini with a crypto card

Gemini on its own is free. The paid models, higher limits, Veo video and the 2 TB of storage come with Google AI Pro, which is a Google One plan billed to the payment method on your Google account. Google accepts cards and, in some countries, carrier billing, but never crypto.

A prepaid Mastercard added to your Google payments profile covers it. Google charges the plan price every month in the currency of your payments profile.

What Google AI Pro costs

Google AI Pro is $19.99 a month in the United States at the time of writing, often with a free first month. Google AI Ultra is $249.99 a month. In other countries Google prices the plan in local currency, and the amount differs.

If your payments profile is in a currency other than US dollars, the card converts the charge at the Mastercard rate plus 2.5%. Most people keep the profile in dollars and avoid that.

At the Google AI Pro checkout

Go to one.google.com or gemini.google.com, choose AI Pro and pay. Google adds the card to pay.google.com, so the card is also available for Play purchases and YouTube Premium afterwards. The billing address you enter must be in the same country as your Google payments profile, otherwise Google rejects the card before it even talks to the issuer.

Google sometimes charges a temporary $1 authorisation to verify a new card and reverses it within days. Keep the plan price plus a dollar or two on the card for the first payment.

If the payment is declined

Google is strict about the country. If the card is refused instantly with a generic message, the problem is almost always the address or country on the payments profile, not the card balance. Match the address to the profile country and try again.

If the first month is free, Google still verifies the card with a small hold; a card with a zero balance fails that check. Put at least $5 on it before starting the trial.

What the card itself costs

The card costs $49.99 once and nothing per month. A top up is 3% plus the network fee. A purchase in a currency other than US dollars costs 2.5% of the amount, every approved purchase over $1 carries a $0.10 service fee, and the issuing bank's fee on a purchase is passed on at cost. All of it is in one table on the pricing page; if a charge is not there, we do not take it.

How to get the card and pay

1. Open the card. Sign up with an email address and pay $49.99 once for the virtual Mastercard. The card number, expiry date and CVV appear in your account about two minutes later. No passport and no selfie.
2. Top it up with crypto. Send USDT or USDC on TRON, BNB Chain, Polygon or Ethereum to the deposit address shown in the account. The top up costs 3% plus the network fee, and the balance is held in US dollars.
3. Pay at the checkout. Enter the card like any other Mastercard: number, expiry, CVV, the name from your account and the billing address it asks for. The merchant sees an ordinary card payment, not crypto.

Questions people ask

Will the card work for Google Play and YouTube Premium too?

Yes. Once it is on your Google payments profile it is a normal card there, and Play, YouTube Premium and Google One storage all use it.

Can I pay for Gemini API or Vertex AI with it?

The Gemini API is billed through Google Cloud, which also takes cards on a billing account. The same card works, but Cloud billing is invoiced after usage, so keep the balance topped up.

Why does Google ask for an address if the card has none?

Google uses the address for tax and region rules, not to verify the card. Enter the address you used at sign up; the country must match your Google account.